Scotland will face Fiji at the Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd November. This will be the first of four autumn internationals to be played by Scotland in 2024. Scotland last faced Fiji during the 2022 autumn internationals, when they recovered from a nervy first-half to secure a 28-12 victory.
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As this game is being played outside World Rugby’s international window, most of the players who are not attached to Scottish clubs are unavailable, including Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn and Ben White. The one exception is reserve hooker Dylan Richardson who has been released by the Sharks for this game.
D’Arcy Rae will earn his second cap if/when he comes off the bench as tight-head cover, five and a half years after his debut when he came off the bench for the final 12 minutes of Scotland’s 2019 Six Nations match against Ireland.
“Ali wasn’t in the two nines that we picked a lot during last year’s Six Nations and that was a reflection of George’s form and Ben White’s form, [whereas] we feel this year Ali’s played really well when Edinburgh have gone well,” said Townsend, when asked about his scrum-half selection. “Ali’s played well the last two games in particular. George and Jamie are competing really hard with Ben, who will be available for us next week. So we see the four of them all have their different attributes.
‘Whoever missed out is unlucky. George knows what he has to work on. He obviously got the opportunities in the summer, got the opportunities in the Six Nations, and I’m sure he’ll work to get those opportunities again.”
Townsend also stated that he wasn’t tempted to wrap Zander Fagerson in cotton wool this week, despite the lack of credible alternatives at tight-head prop to face the might of South Africa next weekend.
“Zander’s been our number one tight-head for a few years now and it is a crucial position, but I probably have less sleepless nights now than I did two or three years ago when WP Nel was coming towards the end of his career and Simon Berghan was also retiring,” he said. “Those were players with a number of caps.
“We were really impressed with how Elliot Millar-Mills played for Northampton, champion team [in England last season], and how he’s continued that form this year [with two starts and a bench appearances so far], and he’s played well for us. Will Hurd was someone who was originally in our Six Nations squad, got capped in the summer, and he’s part of a Leicester pack that are going really well at set-piece time [one start and one bench appearance].
“And I’m so pleased for D’Arcy to win his second cap if he gets off the bench this weekend. He’s been on form this year. When the scrum has gone well with Edinburgh, Darcy’s been at the heart of that.”
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As this game is being played outside World Rugby’s international window, most of the players who are not attached to Scottish clubs are unavailable, including Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn and Ben White. The one exception is reserve hooker Dylan Richardson who has been released by the Sharks for this game.
D’Arcy Rae will earn his second cap if/when he comes off the bench as tight-head cover, five and a half years after his debut when he came off the bench for the final 12 minutes of Scotland’s 2019 Six Nations match against Ireland.
“Ali wasn’t in the two nines that we picked a lot during last year’s Six Nations and that was a reflection of George’s form and Ben White’s form, [whereas] we feel this year Ali’s played really well when Edinburgh have gone well,” said Townsend, when asked about his scrum-half selection. “Ali’s played well the last two games in particular. George and Jamie are competing really hard with Ben, who will be available for us next week. So we see the four of them all have their different attributes.
‘Whoever missed out is unlucky. George knows what he has to work on. He obviously got the opportunities in the summer, got the opportunities in the Six Nations, and I’m sure he’ll work to get those opportunities again.”
Townsend also stated that he wasn’t tempted to wrap Zander Fagerson in cotton wool this week, despite the lack of credible alternatives at tight-head prop to face the might of South Africa next weekend.
“Zander’s been our number one tight-head for a few years now and it is a crucial position, but I probably have less sleepless nights now than I did two or three years ago when WP Nel was coming towards the end of his career and Simon Berghan was also retiring,” he said. “Those were players with a number of caps.
“We were really impressed with how Elliot Millar-Mills played for Northampton, champion team [in England last season], and how he’s continued that form this year [with two starts and a bench appearances so far], and he’s played well for us. Will Hurd was someone who was originally in our Six Nations squad, got capped in the summer, and he’s part of a Leicester pack that are going really well at set-piece time [one start and one bench appearance].
“And I’m so pleased for D’Arcy to win his second cap if he gets off the bench this weekend. He’s been on form this year. When the scrum has gone well with Edinburgh, Darcy’s been at the heart of that.”